The packaging of its industry-leading Cognos Business Intelligence software is enhanced and now offers it to customers via IBM Passport Advantage program. Passport Advantage (PPA) is a simple, comprehensive loyalty program that provides software-license acquisition and renewable Software Subscription and Support (product updates and technical support) using a common set of processes and tools.

Technical Specifications

Specifications are provided by the manufacturer. Refer to the manufacturer for an explanation
of the print speed and other ratings.

System Requirements

Platform:

AIX , HP-UX , Linux , Solaris SPARC , Windows

Software

License Category:

Maintenance

License Qty:

1 authorized user

License Type:

Software Subscription and Support Reinstatement

License Validation Period:

1 year

Licensing Program:

Passport Advantage Express

Service

Support Details Full Contract Period:

1 year

Header

Brand:

IBM

Compatibility:

PC , Unix

Manufacturer:

IBM

Model:

Business Intelligence Recipient

Packaged Quantity:

1

Product Line:

IBM Cognos

Service & Support

Type:

New releases update

Service & Support Details

Service Type:

New releases update

Response Time:

2 hours

Service Availability (Hours a Day):

Business hours

Service Type:

Phone consulting

Service Availability (Days a Week):

Monday-Sunday

Service Availability (Hours a Day):

24 hours a day

Service Type:

Emergency phone consulting

Service Type:

Web knowledge base access

Service Type:

E-mail consulting

General

Category:

Business applications

Subcategory:

Business - data analysis & business intelligence

Licensing

License Pricing:

Volume

Product Reviews

Rated 3.8 out of 5 by 25reviewers.

Rated 5 out of 5 by PrincipalSWEng785 It offers metadata modelling and dashboard visualizations. Valuable Features:* Metadata modelling using Transformer and Framework Manager* Visualization using DashboardNormally for BI implementations, these are the critical aspects.Improvements to My Organization:I have not worked for an organization who is a direct beneficiary of the product. I have worked for vendor companies who have implementation expertise or have worked for OEM.Room for Improvement:* Data discovery-related features* Visualizations* Speed of interaction with end-userThere are no problems with these areas. IBM Cognos has been working on them, but they are not yet on par with other vendors who are leaders in data discovery. For example, features like Lasso, dynamic pivoting, etc. are not yet available.Use of Solution:I have used it for 11 years.Stability Issues:I have not encountered any stability issues.Scalability Issues:I encountered scalability issues while reporting across multiple data sources.Technical Support:Technical support is very good.Previous Solutions:I previously used a different solution, and switched because of ease of development and the rich set of features for most use cases.Initial Setup:Initial setup was straightforward.Cost and Licensing Advice:I do not have much exposure to pricing. I understand it is on par, in terms of delivered value with respect to price, with other BI vendors.Other Solutions Considered:Before choosing this product, I also evaluated Qlik ( https://www.itcentralstation.com/vendors/qlik ) and PowerBI ( https://www.itcentralstation.com/products/microsoft-bi ).Other Advice:Please evaluate other BI vendors available in the market to make sure that you pick the right tool for your use cases.Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:My company is an OEM partner. October 7, 2016

Rated 4 out of 5 by Matt C Harris Stories developed with Visual Storytelling provide descriptions over time and are actionable in nature. Valuable Features:One of the features I find most valuable in the latest release is the Visual Storytelling functionality and being able to tell stories visually with your data. While stories are similar to dashboards in that they use visualizations to share insights, they differ as they provide a description over time and are actionable in nature.Improvements to My Organization:This product has improved the way our organization and our customers truly interact with information, really putting the capabilities into the hands of the key decision makers and not having to rely on IT resources that do not have the business knowledge to do this for them; true self-service analytics.Room for Improvement:The key areas for improvement are the administrative capabilities that are largely the same from the series 8/10 versions and the ability to use Framework Manager packages and models on new dashboards, etc. The introduction of data sets in the latest version demonstrates that this functionality is going to be offered around the corner.Use of Solution:While IBM Cognos Analytics has been on the market for under a year, I have been using the Cognos platform for nearly 15 years and have seen it continue to grow and mature.Stability Issues:I have not encountered any stability issues. The IBM Cognos platform has been around a while and with the right people doing the install/configuration/management of the environment, it is pretty rock solid. IBM is coming out with new minor releases every 2-3 months, which is great for customers as you can tell the commitment to excellence with the product is there.Scalability Issues:I have not encountered any scalability issues.Technical Support:Technical support has been pretty responsive. I run an IBM Cognos professional services organization and we become the front-line support for many of our customers.Initial Setup:I have been installing/configuring IBM Cognos BI environments for years and I will have to say the documentation for the first iteration of IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0.0 was not complete and created a few challenges. The subsequent releases have been more complete and the latest version is pretty solid.Cost and Licensing Advice:Pricing and licensing really comes down to what customers are looking to achieve, as there are lots of options out there. IBM Cognos Analytics offers a fully managed SaaS Cognos in the cloud offering, where a customer does not have to deal with infrastructure, maintenance, administration, or provisioning. This is a great option for many SMBs out there. For other larger customers, it comes down to the number of users, what roles they will have, and internal IT capabilities that they have. One of IBM Cognos’ greatest strengths is the ability to cover the whole spectrum of customers at a price point that is acceptable to all.Other Solutions Considered:I led a large vendor selection process at a former company around 13 years ago where I had 10 vendors come in and do a product demonstration based on our business requirements and from there, I was able to narrow the field down to Information Builders ( https://www.itcentralstation.com/vendors/information-builders ) and SAP BusinessObjects ( https://www.itcentralstation.com/products/sap-business-objects ). For the flexibility, self-service capabilities, and in-memory OLAP functionality, Cognos was the clear winner for us.Other Advice:I am a strong believer in having the right tool to do the right job. I believe IBM Cognos BI has been and continues to be a solution that I have seen great results in and continue to recommend. However, I recognize that there are strengths that other vendors bring to the table and solutions that could be a better fit in some circumstances.It does a fantastic job of promoting true self service and allowing line of business users the ability to load their data without the need for IT involvement. Non-technical people can easily upload their data and start to perform analyses of their business creating attractive dashboards and asking key questions based on empirical data.Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:I run an IBM Cognos professional services organization that is an IBM Business Partner. October 7, 2016

Rated 3 out of 5 by ManagingPartner380 We use TM1 for planning, plans vs actuals analysis, and what-if analysis. We use SPSS for predictive analysis and other type of analytics. Valuable Features:* Good reporting features: TM1 (for planning, plans vs actuals analysis, what-if analysis) and SPSS (for predictive analysis and other type of analytics).* Integration capabilities: broad enterprise integration feature set, useful APIs and SDKs.Room for Improvement:Self-service analysis features have improved a lot, even with new subversions of version 10, but I feel business users can't really utilize these features as they are not too intuitive and they easily find themselves lost among Cognos Studios. Query Studio is easy to use, but you can easily reach its limits. Analysis Studio is for OLAP analysis and it's quite easy to use, but OLAP needs a predefined multi-dimensional data source. Report Studio has lots of power, but it's too complex for a business analyst to use. Cognos Workspace aims to provide some self-service capabilities, but it's good for dashboarding only. Cognos Insight has been designed to close this gap, but it's quite a new solution; therefore, it lacks some complex analysis features.Another area for improvement is error messaging. When an error occurs, the user has two options: the user gets a message that an error occurred, logged and please contact the admin, OR you get a long Java exception that you don't understand if you are not both a Java developer and a Cognos architecture expert (so there is a big chance that you will never know why the error happened).Use of Solution:I have been using Cognos BI version 10 since 2011, and previous versions since 2003.Stability Issues:Stability depends on many things, e.g., the quality of the Cognos model, the stability of the data source, the stability of the Cognos server environment, the stability of the network between the server and client application, the amount of data in the report/analysis, etc. Stability can be increased with a good initial setup and a thorough stability test of the Cognos BI environment. But it might happen that a user receives a strange and unidentifiable error message due to stability issues.Scalability Issues:Scalability depends on the scalability of the source database system and the BI system, as well. Cognos BI can be scaled well, but the scalability of the source database system is more important in most cases, especially when a huge amount of data should be reported/analysed.Technical Support:Technical support has two levels: first-level support is provided by an IBM support partner. So the quality of the first level of support depends on the experience and the quality of service of the support partner. Second-level support provided by IBM can be slow, especially when a competent IBM technical expert can't be found in your country.Previous Solutions:I have seen some cases when an existing BI solution has been replaced by Cognos. It had various reasons but in most of the cases, the existing BI solution was outdated or the customer was disappointed with the existing BI product or simply the IBM salesperson performed well.Initial Setup:The complexity of the initial setup depends on the product variant itself (for. ex., Cognos has an Express version, which can be set up really easy), and it depends on the planned BI architecture as well. So it can be really easy and it can be really complex, too.Cost and Licensing Advice:Cognos BI has role-based licensing, so think well about which BI role you really need, and whether you should buy user- or CPU-based licences.Other Solutions Considered:I always advise to use the right product to your specific needs, and evaluate some other options as well. Cognos BI can be a good fit for you in one case, but it might not be the best solution in another one.Other Advice:Look for a good implementation expert who can help you make it a success. And don't spare on trainings; it's a complex, enterprise BI product.Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions. October 7, 2016

Rated 2 out of 5 by reviewer515172 Review about IBM Cognos Improvements to My Organization:used to create analytic reportsUse of Solution:6 monthsDeployment Issues:noStability Issues:noScalability Issues:noTechnical Support:goodPrevious Solutions:noInitial Setup:yesImplementation Team:don't know the product was already installedROI:don't knowCost and Licensing Advice:n/aOther Advice:noDisclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions. October 1, 2016

Rated 4 out of 5 by BizAnalyticsConsultant798 The workspace features are intuitive and simple to use. Valuable Features:Workspace Advanced and Workspace are very intuitive and simple to use for a basic user.Improvements to My Organization:It improved sales monitoring, the enterprise business unit performance (costs, revenue, human resources, etc.) and other financial aspects. It also improved the responsibility for the data input into the transactional applications.Room for Improvement:Report authoring is sometimes difficult for authors without specific computer knowledge with regard to concepts related to database, i.e., join, union, etc.Use of Solution:I have been using IBM Cognos BI since version 10.0 in 2012. IBM Cognos BI 10.2.2 was released on December 2014. So, I have been using IBM Cognos 10 for four years.Stability Issues:I have not encountered any stability issues.Scalability Issues:I have not encountered any scalability issues.Technical Support:I rate technical support 7/10, because the first help response is fast, even if the whole resolution of the problem might be slow. In any case, tech support is good.Previous Solutions:I did not previously use a different solution.Initial Setup:Initial setup was simple. YouTube is a rich way to learn tips & tricks.Other Solutions Considered:I'm a Cognos consultant. I work using only this solution.Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:My company is an IBM Premier Business Partner. September 30, 2016

Rated 5 out of 5 by SalesSpecialist532 We can simply create a dashboard. The data module lets you create data models. Valuable Features:It is very powerful, it is a lot easier to use and the new version has a very nice look and feel.It also has the ability to simply create a dashboard and the data module lets you easily create many data models.Improvements to My Organization:We have the ability to create reports that monitor the organization in a very easy way.Use of Solution:I have used it for one year.Stability Issues:I have not encountered any stability issues.Scalability Issues:I have not encountered any scalability issues.Technical Support:Technical support is 8/10.Previous Solutions:I did not previously use a different solution.Initial Setup:Initial setup was straightforward, especially with the new version.Cost and Licensing Advice:The price is very low for the SaaS edition.Other Solutions Considered:Before choosing this product, I did not evaluate other options.Other Advice:It can do anything; you just have to study it a bit.Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:My company is an IBM partner. September 29, 2016

Rated 4 out of 5 by Simon Howard It delivers self-service BI to our end users, in different types of output formats. Valuable Features:It is great for delivering self-service BI to our end users. It provides great flexibility in the types of BI output formats that can be delivered.Improvements to My Organization:It has allowed end users to explore data without having to copy it into Excel first.Room for Improvement:The upgrade process is always a challenge, as it is basically a reinstall each time.Use of Solution:I have used it since 2010.Stability Issues:I have not encountered any stability issues.Scalability Issues:I have not encountered any scalability issues.Technical Support:Technical support from our vendor partner is great.Previous Solutions:We previously used Oracle Discoverer, but it reached end of life.Initial Setup:Initial setup was complex in the sense that there were different ways to deliver BI: relational models, DMR, and cubes. When you first start using it, it is difficult to know which is the best.Cost and Licensing Advice:Haggle and buy near the end of IBM’s financial year.Other Solutions Considered:Before choosing this product, we looked at SAP BusinessObjects ( https://www.itcentralstation.com/products/sap-business-objects ), OBIEE ( https://www.itcentralstation.com/products/oracle-obiee ), Pentaho ( https://www.itcentralstation.com/vendors/pentaho ), Jaspersoft ( https://www.itcentralstation.com/products/tibco-jaspersoft ) and QlikView ( https://www.itcentralstation.com/products/qlikview ); all in 2010.Other Advice:Get a good local partner or take on an experienced Cognos contractor to help get your local team up to speed and be productive.Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions. September 28, 2016

Rated 3 out of 5 by HeadBizAnalytics463 Each staff member receives feedback regarding their own duty shifts. New functions do not work as smoothly as they should. Valuable Features:* Scheduling options* Bursting (each staff member gets feedback regarding their own duty shifts): We might have hundreds of report recipients who need to have their own data (and only their own data). Doing similar work manually would take very long time, or could be impossible.* Possibility to save report output history to the Cognos portal* Possibility to use the same report object for various outputs (e-mail, Cognos workspace = dashboard, screens)Improvements to My Organization:It results in less manual work, process performance improvement and improved real-time data availability.It is also possible to check the report utilisation via Cognos audit reports.Room for Improvement:The tool is complex, and I would not recommend it to small companies, because you need to have expertise for Framework Model development, access rights issues, licensing, etc.New functions, e.g., external data import, do not work as smoothly as they should. New visualisations using RAVE take a long time.Unfortunately statistics are not available for Cognos 10.2 (as in 10.1), and that has been a disappointment, when Lean Six Sigma-type calculations are done.Additionally, even after four years of using Cognos, it is sometimes difficult to understand how the tool works, e.g., which calculations are processed locally, etc.Use of Solution:I have used Cognos 10.2 for one year and Cognos 8.4 for three years.Stability Issues:We encountered stability issues, but most likely related to our network and AD issues.Scalability Issues:I have not encountered any scalability issues.Technical Support:From IBM, technical support is OK; other domestic service providers also work OK, but their hourly rates are high!Previous Solutions:Finnair has been using IBM tools for a long time, but I personally have used other SQL tools.Initial Setup:Our IT department has taken care of this, thus I do not know.Cost and Licensing Advice:If you need to send scheduled reports to third parties, you need to have a PVU server.Other Solutions Considered:We have had PoCs regarding QlikView ( https://www.itcentralstation.com/products/qlikview ), SAS Visual Statistics ( https://www.itcentralstation.com/products/sas-visual-analytics ), Tableau ( https://www.itcentralstation.com/products/tableau ), etc.Other Advice:Appropriate data modelling is a must, if you want to increase self-service.Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:IBM is my company's guardian vendor. September 27, 2016